Artifact for today is the use of Primary Resources in your writing and storytelling. As you can tell from some of my other posts, photographs speak volumes when it comes to telling a story. Letters and diaries lead us personally into stories from times past. With access to digital resources, we have rich databases to research from. Dig in!

Library of Congress http://www.loc.gov/rr/print/list/128_migm.html

The Dust Bowl Era has always perked my interest, probably because my grandparents lived through these hard times and shared so many stories with me. I teach a workshop entitled "A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words" and concentrate on photographs from that time period (from the Library of Congress archives). I share the photograph above and ask my participants to jot down any factual observations they can make. No inferencing is allowed at this time. I guide them into deeper observations through questions about their observations. Finally, I allow inferences to be made which allows emotions into the picture. What happens often is my participants don't always see the baby Florence Thompson (Migrant Mother) is holding in her lap. The observations, guiding questions always leads into more questions, awwww's, and "where can I find out more?"

Sue, last summer I used all primary sources to teach 4th graders about the Dust Bowl. We looked at photos, videos, and listened to Woody Guthrie songs. And kids went on their own and interviewed grandparents. On their own! It was magical

Sue and Wendy, I love that kind of teaching and learning! So glad to hear how you each did it and I especially like the word "magical" applied to describe the results. It truly is magical--with the "wow" of discovery!